Picture by Corey Coyle, Creative Commons 3.0 unported
“Ghetto” is a word that carries a different meaning today than from when it was first used back in the 1500s. When used today, it generally references low-income communities, segregated from social and economic opportunities. Whereas it was originally used to specifically describe an area where Jews were restricted to living in and segregated from the rest of society. Because for much of human history, Jews have been forced to hide their ethnic identity, sometimes abandoning it and assimilating with the majority because the penalty for being Jewish was often a death sentence.
Despite that the world has been removed from the Holocaust for close to a century, antisemitism continues to plague society. A shared similarity between Jews living in Canada and Jews in the U.S. is that Jews make up around 1% of the population, yet over 60% of religious-based hate crimes target Jews. In addition to being the most targeted group for religiously motivated hate, they are the only group that is targeted by all hate and terrorist groups, from the far-left to the far-right.
Large media platforms do little to curb the sharing of antisemitic media, and much of that content remains up under the guise of “free speech”, with grifters turning to creating antisemitic soundbites to stay relevant. There tends to be little interest in authentically detailing how Jewish life has looked like over the centuries, which is why part 2 of this series will explore the story behind Chabad and the life story of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson and his thoughts on the world that could be.
The History behind Chabad Centers.
Chabad is an approach to teaching the Torah that dates to 18th-century Eastern Europe (today’s Ukraine), a unique intellectual approach to understand G-d and Jewish practice. The word “Chabad” is a Hebrew acronym for three concepts, Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Da’at (Knowledge), which combine to describe the Chabad approach to teaching the Torah. These words can also be understood to represent three larger ideas, “mind before emotion”, “outreach and inclusion”, and “personal transformation”, and an attempt to create a process for brining divine wisdom into the world, connecting head and heart, and transforming both individuals and the broader Jewish community.
Being Jewish throughout human history has always been dangerous. Jewish communities faced various forms of discrimination and persecution and were forced to live under strict cultural and social restrictions. On the European continent, receiving a “death sentences” for being Jewish was not an uncommon occurrence and was occurring centuries before the Nazi extermination campaign that resulted in the Holocaust. As a result, Jewish teachings and ethno-cultural preservation had to be carried out underground, which is why the roots of Chabad stem from Jews having to practice their faith underground and in secrecy.
After World War 2, the Holocaust had decimated much of Eastern Europe’s Jewry, and many Jews were leaving their ethno-cultural identity behind and acclimating to foreign societies. The Jewish identity was on a trajectory that might have seen Judaism all but disappear, had it not been for Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson and his decision to focus on outreach to preserve that Jewish identity. An outreach approach to reach Jews wherever they may be located is what led to the creation of Chabad Houses, which started in the 1960s and have been established around the world.
Today’s Chabad Houses are still rooted in 18th-century Eastern Europe teachings, but they have expanded on the original Chabad philosophy to incorporate the teachings of Rabbi Shneerson, about modern life in a post-Holocaust world and with a focus on reviving Jewish outreach, education, and continuity. Chabad Houses aim to make Judaism accessible, meaningful and transformative for all Jews, regardless of their denomination. Chabad Houses should be viewed as centers that attempt to unlock the power of the mind and good thinking by cultivating information. Information, which at the beginning of everything, is capable of empowering and driving existential transformation and at getting people to realize their potential and to build towards a world that could be.
The Most Influential Jewish Figure of the 20th Century that Almost Wasn’t.
Imagine being someone who had the respect of Viktor Frankel and Eliezer Wiesel, and whose words made it possible for both Holocaust survivors to see that a post-WW2 world still held the promise of a better tomorrow. Imagine such words of influence being capable of reigniting two flames that had dimmed and were close to flaming out, and that after both had managed to reconnect with their inner purpose, they would go on to make contributions to further humankind. That is just one example of the positive leadership and influence from a life that gave many, the life story of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson (The Rebbe).
The Rebbe was a larger-than-life figure who was a champion of oneness and responsible for revitalizing the Jewish identity in a post-Holocaust world. The Rebbe was born on Aprile 5, 1902, in the Russian Empire (present-day Mykolaiv, Ukraine) and into a long line of Hassidic Rabbis. The Rebbe’s father, who was the Chief Rabbi of the city of Dnepropetrovsk, taught his son a style of learning that attempted to take every detail and find a common denominator that weaved through everything. Growing up in the early 1900s, the Rebbe’s father instilled in him the importance of memorization and conciseness as there were no libraries, few personal books, and limited access to writing materials.
Over the years, the Rebbe became good at memorizing information and making abstract ideas make sense in lay terms, and he became fluent in a dozen languages. By the time he had his Bar mitzvah, he was already viewed as a prodigy for his knowledge of the Talmud and his opinions were often taken into consideration by much older Rabbis. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviets declared a war on Judaism and all schools, buildings, and places of worship for Jews were closed and Jewish leaders were imprisoned, exiled, or executed—including the Rebbe’s father. The Soviets would end up sentencing the Rebbe’s father to death by hard labor camp, with the Rebbe being in Western Europe and pursuing studies in mathematics, physics, and engineering.
The Rebbe had initially started to study at the University of Berlin before the Nazis came to power in 1933, then left for France and continued his studies at Sorbonne University. Prior to leaving Europe’s top universities for the U.S. in 1941, he was interacting with the top minds of the time, studying under several Nobel Prize winners (Walther Nernst and Erwin Schrodinger), and it is possible he may have even interacted with Albert Einstein. Then after arriving to the U.S., he found work with the U.S.’ Naval Academy, as an engineer. By that point, life-long learning had become a core aspect of the Rebbe, sharp minds sharpening other sharp minds allowed him to get ahead of other top thinkers and to surpass the science, like when it came to neurodiversity and developmental disabilities.
Another example of why the Rebbe is viewed in such high esteem is that he was decades (1950s) ahead of the science on neurodiversity, before mainstream society and the scientific community understood that children with developmental disabilities had more to offer than to live out their lives institutionalized. The Rebbe was among the very first to advocate that children with developmental disabilities should be integrated into the community and given opportunities to develop their unique strengths. He emphasized that these children required special attention and not isolation and that their lives had worth and purpose—something viewed as taboo thinking at the time.
On the topic of childhood development, the Rebbe emphasized the importance of viewing children as more than just adults in the making. Children were individuals that were filled with faith, trust, integrity, energy, enthusiasm, a thirst for learning and sense of mission, and these were qualities that were important to cultivate. He also advocated for school children to start the school day with a moment of silence to reflect inward on their existence, about their place in the world, and their dreams for the future. It was a way to help children get a better awareness of themselves and of others around them, and a way to unlock their desire to work towards making their big dreams reality, and it is an approach that schools are now experimenting with.
What made the Rebbe so exceptional in his interactions with people from all walks of life was how he was able to connect and communicate with each person, and at their level. He described the three loves of Jewish people as being the love of G-d, the love for Torah and the love for our fellow man, as being one and the same love. Beyond his leadership role within the Jewish community, the Rebbe viewed himself as a facilitator, with a focus on nurturing the potential that resides in every human being.
In 1983, the Rebbe expanded the scope of his work to involve all of humanity, with a message emphasizing a love for all people, a focus on outreach, the power of education, and the importance of good deeds. The Rebbe also expanded his outreach campaign beyond the Jewish community to embrace all of mankind, and it revolved around the Rebbe’s seven Noachide Laws, seven principles addressed to all inhabitants of earth, which established a code of civilized and moral behavior.
Other ideas that the Rebbe championed included that everyone had it within them to be a leader and that “it” happened as a part of the “maturation processes” and that those with the ability to influence the public domain had a responsibility to place the needs of others over their own. He routinely emphasized the importance of education and the power of information as having the ability to transform life at an existential level, for oneself, then throughout society and across the world. An impossible task without a commitment to education and life-long learning, and without making both an integral part of one’s identity.
Learning about Ottawa’s connection to the Rebbe.
An afternoon chat with Rabbi Yehoshua Botnick at the Congregation Lubavitch included talk around the Torah and the Talmud, a Yeshiva education, details related to Chabad, but also about Ottawa’s connection to the Rebbe. Much of the conversation related to communication, connection, and positive leadership found its way back the core teachings within the Torah, and how knowledge and information were capable of powering transformational and existential change.
In Judaism, the Torah is a foundational text that establishes a spiritual guide and a comprehensive legal and ethical framework, and it is made up of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Torah also provided insight on human nature, human development, communication, and connection. One way to better understand the Torah is through the lens of four primary levels of interpretation: Pshat (plain meaning), Remez (hinted meaning), Drush (expounded meaning), and Sod (esoteric meaning). The Torah contains 613 commandments that govern religious practices, civil law, and ethical code, offering a vision of a perfect world, and it was complimented by the Talmud.
Often referred to as the “Oral Torah”, the Talmud comments and expands upon the written Torah, and consists of discussions, legal rulings, and interpretations by generations of rabbis and scholars. The foundation of the Talmud is the “Mishnah”, a collection of concise legal rulings and teachings, and the “Gemara”, commentary and discussion on the Mishnah, analyzing every point of law and discussing practical applications, even including debates and disagreements between Rabbis that end without reaching a conclusion. Much of the Talmud is dedicated to addressing the details of Jewish laws, ethics, and spirituality, and is an interpretive and practical extension of the Torah that is applicable over time and place.
During our chat, Rabbi Botnick detailed the history of Chabad and the process in how Chabad emissaries would get sent to a place. Chabad is a Hasidic movement. The word “Hasidic” originates from the Hebrew word “Chassid”, meaning pious or devout, devoted to religious practice. To become a Rabbi, the process required a Yeshiva education and would take until a rabbinical student mastered key Jewish texts including the Torah and the Talmud.
Once the rabbinical studies are completed, a Rabbi would be sent to new places that were unfamiliar to them, and they might start off by being a scholar in residence. A Rabbi’s training included understanding how to analyse student traits, reactions to environment, defense mechanisms, the young and old, and even things like maturity and morality. In the case of stunted growth, maturity and morality, Rabbis were trained to guide individuals toward the necessary realizations for them to regain control of their lives. The communication and connection component, which makes such outcomes possible, is rooted in sincerity and words from the heart, the starting path on the road to the mind.
As for Rabbi Botnick, arriving to Ottawa in 1990, he has served Ottawa’s Jewish community as a Rabbi and educator, with an educational background in religious studies and teaching. For Rabbi Botnick, it was a single circle that was responsible for his arrival to Ottawa, made by the Rebbe (1990), instead of Anchorage (Alaska) and Palm Springs (California). Ottawa’s earliest connection to the Rebbe, however, stretched even further back and began with Rabbi Mordecai Berger (1963-2013). Rabbi Berger had been in Montreal prior to arriving to Ottawa (1976) to become the first Chabad emissary to Ottawa. Then over the next 31 years, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Berger went on to transform the Jewish landscape in the City of Ottawa, and Rabbi Berger became famous for his speaking ability and connecting with audiences.
Two ideas stick out most from this look into Judaism, Synagogues, Rabbis, and the Rebbe that bear relevance for today’s times: The first can be found in a lesson that derives from the Torah that relates to the lighting of the menorah and one that the Rebbe wrote about—being a “lamplighter”. Every person is capable of choosing to light up the world and going from lamp to lamp and setting them alight, it does not give the lamp anything the lamp does not already possess, only revealing its potential for light. The second stemmed from the Rebbe’s approach to interactions with others. Never criticizing anything unless it is for the purpose of a corrective course of action, and always be ready to intervene and help people regain their lives and actualize their potential.
A special thank you to the Congregation Lubavitch and to Rabii Yehoshua Botnick for opening the Congregation’s doors and making this article possible.
